CARICOM Election Observation Mission deployed to T&T

by in Guyana, News

imagesThe Government of Trinidad and Tobago by way of letter dated 15 July 2015 invited CARICOM to deploy a mission to observe the General Elections which will be held in the country on 7 September 2015. As a result a twelve (12) member Group representing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is now in Trinidad and Tobago to observe the General Elections. The Group is headed by Mr. Orrette Fisher, Director of Electoral Office of Jamaica with Ms. Josephine Tamai, Chief Elections Officer, Department of Elections and Boundaries of Belize serving as Deputy Chief of Mission. The other members of the Group include two members of staff from the CARICOM Secretariat and the following representatives from the CARICOM Member States:
Barbados, The Bahamas, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; and Suriname. An advance Group including Mr. Fisher, Ms. Tamai along with the staff of the CARICOM Secretariat arrived in the country over the period 1 to 2 September 2015 with the others arriving between Thursday and Friday.
Since arriving in Trinidad and Tobago, the advance Group on Thursday met with Ms. Khadijah Ameen, and Mr. Davendranath Tacoo, Chairperson and General Secretary respectively of the United National Congress (UNC), Mr. Kwasi Mutema, Political Leader and Mr. Clyde Slinger General Secretary of the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC). On Friday the group met with Mr. Ashton Forde, General Secretary of the People’s National Movement (PNM) and Mr. Clyde Weatherhead, General Secretary of the Congress of the People (COP).
In addition to the leaders of the Political Parties, the advance group has also met with Mr. Stephen Williams, Commissioner of Police, Dr. Norbert J. Masson, Chairman and Commissioners of the Elections and Boundaries Commission.
It is worth noting that despite the efforts made, the Mission was not able to secure appointments with the leaders of the major Political parties who were reported to be busy campaigning. The Group will meet with the Private Sector, Civil Society and representatives of various Non-Government Organizations (NGO’s) ahead of Monday’s polls.
On the day of Elections the Group will monitor activities including the Opening of the Poll, Voting, Close of Poll and Tallying of the ballots in at least 20 of the 41 constituencies.
At the end of the day the Mission will issue a Preliminary Statement based on its observations to be followed later by a full report to H.E. Irwin LaRocque, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community.
The CARICOM Electoral Observer Mission is happy for the opportunity to support and strengthen the democratic process in Trinidad and Tobago and appreciates the high level of support and cooperation received since its arrival in the country.